Economy

The “Fed” is a group of private banks. Banks the world over have lent more debt than can possibly be serviced. Then those same banks use artificially created “QE” hot money to place bets AGAINST the debts of nations like Ireland, thus spiking the cost of further borrowing. This sends them over the edge to the point of needing “RESCUE.” What a game. They push people and countries over the edge and then claim to “rescue” them with more of their poison. It is sick, and they have unfortunately fooled the majority of people.

China's currency is rising ever so slowly against the dollar. But is that hurting China? We will look at a very interesting chart and some research. And then we'll gain some more insight into why the employment numbers seemed to surprise. I guess if you lower the bar, it's easier to jump over

Since May, when Greece narrowly avoided default with the help of a €110 billion (about $151 billion at current rates) bailout backed by the IMF and the EU, the country's Socialist government has implemented a multiyear austerity program of spending cuts and higher taxes. Under the terms of the loan, Greece must cut its budget deficit to 8.1% of gross domestic product this year, from an estimated 13.8% gap in 2009, and to 7.6% of GDP in 2011. However, lagging tax revenue to date has already signaled that Greece would miss this year's deficit target by about €2 billion.

Energy

Peak oil is not just here — it’s behind us already. That’s the conclusion of the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based organization that provides energy analysis to 28 industrialized nations. According to a projection in the agency’s latest annual report, released last week, production of conventional crude oil — the black liquid stuff that rigs pump out of the ground — probably topped out for good in 2006, at about 70 million barrels per day. Production from currently producing oil fields will drop sharply in coming decades, the report suggests. The agency does not see energy doom on the horizon, however.

Chu's nearly two years as energy secretary have been a sprint of sorts. Until last year, the department spent most of its time and its $26 billion budget as caretaker of the nation's nuclear waste and weapons stockpile. But with rising concerns about climate change and the nation's economy hanging on a precipice, Chu was effectively made the green-energy czar. The stimulus bill gave the agency an extra $36 billion for grants and low-interest loans to jump-start new technologies and greater energy efficiency. It isn't easy to foster innovation or choose economic winners; many policymakers say government shouldn't even try and that there are better ways to create jobs. But President Obama, egged on by Chu and others, thinks that money can lay the seeds for a more competitive, energy-efficient economy.

The Government Accountability Office released a report today reviewing the financial risks facing the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which Congress authorized in 1990 -- after the Exxon Valdez incident -- to pay the immediate expenses of federal agencies responding to spills. An 8-cents-per-barrel petroleum tax finances the fund. While more than $1.6 billion remained in the fund as of the end of September, disbursements for one incident can’t exceed $1 billion by law, even if oil companies reimburse the government for the costs, according to the GAO.

Environment

This was simply "the worst scientific scandal of a generation" – a bid by researchers to hoodwink the public over global warming and hide evidence showing fossil fuels were not really heating up our planet. These were the dramatic claims made by newspapers, websites and blogs across the globe a year ago this week, following the hacking of emails from a computer at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. Those emails – subsequently posted on a website via a Russian computer server – appeared to show that unit researchers, led by Professor Phil Jones, were working with scientists round the world to suppress data that proved global warming was not happening. One email in which the word "trick" was used by Jones was said to demonstrate he was hiding evidence while others were said to show that scientists were trying to prevent the publication of studies contradicting the idea that carbon emissions were heating up Earth.

Article suggestions for the Daily Digest can be sent to [email protected]. All suggestions are filtered by the Daily Digest team and preference is given to those that are in alignment with the message of the Crash Course and the "3 Es."

"WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The United States must move to rein in its massive budget deficits or it faces the risk of a bond market crisis, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Sunday.

"We've got to resolve this issue," Greenspan said of the ballooning U.S. debt levels.

He spoke about the issue as a panel, chaired by former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson, is due to deliver a report on debt and deficits by Dec. 1.

A draft report made public last week offered a series of politically tough tax and spending choices that would seek to reduce the debt by $4 trillion by 2020.

The report received a lukewarm reception from some politicians and outright condemnation by others, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who pronounced the ideas "simply unacceptable."

Greenspan, who spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press," said he believed "something equivalent to what Bowles and Simpson put out is going to be approved by Congress. But the only question is whether it is before or after a crisis in the bond market."

He said the risk is that the deficit, which hit $1.3 trillion this year, could spook the bond market. That would result in long-term interest rates moving up rapidly and could lead to a double-dip recession. (Reporting by Caren Bohan and Richard Cowan)"

Thanks for posting the climate change article. It appears to fairly represent the false furor raised by the denial crowd and put the blame where it belongs. Recognizing the sensitivity of this issue on this site, I will copy it to the:

It appears to fairly represent the false furor raised by the denial crowd and put the blame where it belongs. ... thread where civilzed conversation is allowed.

Did you ever consider that this type of "smarter than thou" attitude is why this topic ends up in the controversial topics section. Perhaps if people would have reasonable discussions of the issues, facts, and not dismissive attitude toward any skepticism it might actually be a useful thing to discuss.

Since most of the world doesn't believe "Peak Oil" or our current fiat currency is a major issue, does that make people of this site the "denial crowd" and mean most of us are not engaged in "civilized conversation" on that topic?

Skepticism of everything is a good trait. Those who do not maintain skepticism of even their most charished beliefs are those I tend to trust the least.